


Let it Go

by WhereTheMoonShinesBright



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Abundant Timelapsing, Canonical Character Death, Drabble, F/M, Pining, Pretty much just a, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 07:12:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19459000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhereTheMoonShinesBright/pseuds/WhereTheMoonShinesBright
Summary: They would sing songs of him as a hero, someday. Even if she had to be the one to do it. Even if she had to do it alone.





	Let it Go

**Author's Note:**

> The fact that there aren’t any GreilTania fics on AO3 is unbelievable to me. Me and my tasteless pining can’t stand for this.

It was possible, perhaps, that Greil had come to return Titania’s love at some point. The thought was not lost on her, though she wish it had never occurred to her at all. 

Some years after Elena’s death they settled in pace with one another. Even if Greil had chosen to live by the sword for most of his life, it felt as though only hours had passed before Titania’s skill with an axe began to dither in comparison. But she continued, never one to be left behind. It was a normal soldier’s camaraderie in many ways: They ate together, they fought together, they planned, and worked, and built the mercenary company up together. But it seemed more than that too. 

They were friends, of course. That was the largest part of it. Greil entrusted her with his concerns and goals, jokes and conversation when the occasion arose. She would entertain Mist and Ike when they were younger, accompany them to the market, listen to their concerns as though they were her own children. 

But there was an intimacy to their work, even in silence. They were almost as two pieces of a larger puzzle; they did not need to see the rest of the picture to know they were meant to be next to one another. Most times, she didn’t even think on the weight of her own feelings. Other times, if they locked eyes, if she caught some hint of affection that seemed much too personal, she could feel the ache in her stomach as though the muscle there was wasting away. 

She knew if he felt one way or another, he would never say it. In some piece of her mind she recognized that she did not want him to say it. She would not allow him to break one oath of love and replace it with another in the same breath. Even if he wanted to.

Even if.

And so, every day she would pick up her axe, and drill and spar against him as though he were a rival she could surpass someday and not a hero they would sing songs about (They would sing songs of him as a hero, someday. Even if she had to be the one to do it. Even if she had to do it alone.); As though she would not be overshadowed, inevitably, by the light she so longed to be in. 

When he died, there was little time to shed tears. The only tears she really remembered were Mist’s, and how Ike’s never seemed to come. 

It was different, Ike being in charge. Of course, it was bound to be different. She was no longer one piece of a functioning machine, but instead a pillar of support for a boy who was still trying to piece together what actions to take. A boy whose heart was, despite it all, still in the right place. She would do everything in her power to make sure it stayed there. 

Two wars passed, with no time to grieve. Titania had always thought that Ike had looked like Elena in his youth. As he became older his stature and his face adopted those of his father, until really all that was left of Elena was her eyes and the color of her hair. Likewise, the only place she remained in Mist, who had always taken after her father, was in her demeanor. That was its own sorrow as well; it felt almost as though her dear friend had died again. 

But children needed to grow. Mist eventually adopted her own innocent secrets, feelings she did not share with Titania. And then Ike disappeared off into the night.

She did not miss Ike leave in the night, alerting only one person that he was parting. She supposed when they left they had intended to keep it hidden, but she had been there the entirety of Ike’s life. (He was allowed to have his secrets, but it was foolish to think Titania could not tell where they were hidden.) She would not stop them, and she did not miss the look that passed between them as they escaped beyond the horizon. She wondered how well it echoed the escape of Greil end Elena, in their retreat to Gallia. 

She folded the note that had been needlessly left to her, and placed it next to Mist’s plate the next morning. 

When all was done she put it to rest. Her friends, her fears. She said prayers for Greil and Elena, taking comfort in knowing they were together now— that after a long life she might join them, and see her dear friends again. She took comfort in seeing Mist grow into her own person, in a more hopeful world than Ike had been allowed to grow in. She took comfort in the idea that Ike might one day return. 

She had lived with an ache in her heart for so long. She could take comfort in at least these things.

For the saying goes: If you love something…

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I did purposefully leave my shipping bias for Ike out of this.
> 
> Want to talk to me? Want to cry with me?  
> Send me a message at  
> notsosecretfanboy.tumblr.com  
> Or  
> @ChinUpKing on twitter


End file.
